Tampa Man Dies in Motorcycle Accident

Hi...

...I'm finally home and I brought my Daddy with me! We also brought his cat. I drove most of the way and it was so cute to watch him holding the cat in his lap. At one point he was trying to get the seat belt off and I had to move the cat so that he could get to it. He said, "Oh! Be gentle!"

That was so cute...it's just so NOT dad!

Now the sad, sad, sad story. We left Florida at about 1 PM and 5-10 minutes later, we came across a terrible wreck. The EMT's hadn't gotten there yet so I had to stop to offer help. I don't know how the accident happened, but there was a guy on a motorcycle and my father said that it looked like an SUV cut him off and he drove straight into the other vehicle at a high rate of speed.

I got out of the car and walked over to the the young man of about 20 something (who was not wearing a helmet-it's not required in Florida) and immediately noticed that his color was that of a dead person. The injuries that I saw right away were two broken legs, both bent perpendicularly to the right...a 90 degree angle. His neck was obviously broken and when I went to feel a pulse, I could tell that his arm was shattered. Then I put my hands on his chest to start CPR and I realized that he had been injured so badly that not a bone in his body had come through the wreck unbroken. He was literally a bunch of bones pieces wrapped in skin. It was amazing that I didn't see any skin damage...but his internal injuries where devastating.

About then I heard the EMT's coming and I realized that there wasn't anything that I could do so I ran back to the car...too upset to talk for a good while. I just kept thinking about that kid and the fact that when my dad and I left his place, the kid was riding his motorcycle thinking all was right with the world. And then, in a second, he was dead.

I ache for the family who found out that their son, brother, grandson...their loved one...died today. I find it stunning that you can wake up one day and be worrying about work, school, a friend...whatever you worry about...and then before the day is out, your life is over. How sad.

Tomorrow it could be one of us...any one of us. Live like life is the fleeting thing that it is and interact with those who care about you as though you may never see them again. Life is full of disappointments, mistakes and feuds...after all, we're only human and none of us are perfect.

If you ride a motorcycle...please, please, PLEASE ride responsibly and when you are out driving, remember that those bikes are small and easy to miss. If either of my children EVER got on a motorcycle...I would put them over my knee and smack their butts...I don't care how old they are! Also, please say a prayer for the young man who died on Hillsborough Road in Tampa today, as well as for his family.

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Another article that I found online, this one ges into a bit more detail:

TAMPA — When a thief snatched prescription drugs out of a woman's hands in broad daylight Wednesday, two people dashed to help her.

It cost one of them his life.

Hillsborough County sheriff's officials said around 1:30 p.m., the woman left the MD & More Clinic on the corner of W Hillsborough Avenue and Town 'N Country Boulevard.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter described what happened next this way:

As the woman came outside, a man grabbed the pills she'd just bought and jumped into a tan Honda sedan with tinted windows. There was a blond woman behind the wheel.
In the parking lot, a bystander saw the thieves getting away and leaped through their rear window, trying to stop them.

The Honda roared off, banging into another vehicle and knocking the person off the car.

Nearby, Jason R. DeMarzian, 25, of Bradenton saw the chaos unfold and jumped on his motorcycle. He chased after the car as it raced west down Hillsborough Avenue.
Around the same time, a 2006 Ford Explorer pulled out the driveway of a Wing House restaurant.

DeMarzian's motorcycle hit it broadside, slammed to the pavement and caught fire.

Ryan Gorskie, 23, of Tampa is the general manager of Mattress Doctor. He was at his desk working when he heard the sickening thump of a bad collision outside.

He ran out the door, already dialling 911 on the store's cordless phone.

He said he saw that the motorcycle was on fire. The rider was on the ground, not moving.
Gorskie said both the biker's legs obviously were broken.

The couple inside the SUV, Tony and Kelly Agan, covered their faces in shock, he said.
A driver jumped out of a nearby car, grabbed DeMarzian under the arms and dragged him away from the burning cycle. Others in the gathering crowd told him to stop moving the victim.

A few cars back, another man got out of a marked county vehicle and put out the flames with a fire extinguisher.

Four other people, including a 20-year Tampa police veteran who was buried Wednesday, have died in motorcycle-related crashes in the past two weeks.

Like Master Patrol Officer Victor Guerrero, DeMarzian was not wearing a helmet.

The driver of the Explorer, Tony Agan, turned 29 Wednesday. Neither he nor his wife, who was a passenger in the SUV, returned a call from a Times reporter. No one answered the door at their Carrollwood home.

Meanwhile, officers continue to investigate the theft. Citing privacy laws, officials wouldn't disclose the type of drug the woman bought, and said they weren't sure why the robbers targeted her.

The suspected thief is described as a 6-foot-2, 175-pound white man in his 20s or 30s with a beard. He wore a blue dress shirt, jeans and blue hat.

The driver of the Honda is described as a 5-foot-5, 130-pound white woman with long blond hair. She wore a white shirt and shorts. The Honda had no tags.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office at (813) 247-8200 or Crime Stoppers at (800) 873-TIPS.

Times researcher John Martin and staff writer Justin George contributed to this report. Rodney Thrash can be reached at rthrash@sptimes.com or (813) 269-5303.